Redhawks fall to Bowling Green

by Reggie Wilson

Rodrick Caldwell.jpg

OXFORD (Redhawks Athletics) – The Miami men’s basketball team played a back and forth contest for 30 minutes against Bowling Green, but a hot-shooting second half by the Falcons sent the RedHawks to an 81-70 loss on Tuesday evening.

Miami (9-9, 2-3 Mid-American) drops its second-straight contest as Bowling Green (12-6, 3-2 MAC) tied the season series up with both teams winning on the road this season.

BGSU opened with the game’s first five points. A Logan McLane three-pointer drew MU within 7-5 with 16:39 left in the opening half, but Bowling Green scored the next five to grab an early 12-5 advantage.

That was countered by five-straight RedHawk points, three of which came on an and-one play as Isaiah Coleman-Lands found Bam Bowman in transition to trim the deficit to 12-10. Eventually, a Nike Sibande trifecta put Miami ahead for the first time at 15-14 with 12:33 left in the first half.

The RedHawks eventually upped their lead to 17-14 as Bowman tipped in an offensive rebound with 10:48 showing on the clock. Miami continued padding its lead as the half wore on with Sibande dialing long distance again and Jalen Adaway throwing down a dunk to open up a 22-16 advantage. Sibande later made it 24-18 with seven and a half left in the first, capping MU’s run at 19-6.

The Falcons countered with seven-straight points, the last three of which came on a trey by Dylan Frye to put them back in front 25-24. Both teams traded hoops for the next few minutes until Rod Mills snapped a 28-28 tie with layups on consecutive possessions to make it 32-28 with under a minute remaining in the half. BGSU did finish the half by making a couple free throws, but Miami went into the locker room holding a 32-30 lead.

After Bowling Green tied it up early in the second, a three by Sibande and a jumper from Darrian Ringo put Miami back on top by a 38-33 count. However, the Falcons rattled off the next eight points to flip the lead to three points. Ringo quashed the run by draining a three-pointer to tie things up and a Mills layup made it 45-43 in favor of the Red & White.

The seesaw continued as the Falcons scored the next five points to go back in front 48-45 with 13:53 and they remained in front for the next few minutes. Bowman eventually trimmed the deficit to 50-49 on a nice post move and finish.

Bowling Green made things tougher as it scored the next seven points amidst a 14-4 run to go up 57-49. A McLane layup ended Miami’s scoring drought and a pair of Ringo free throws cut the deficit in half at 57-53 with 7:39 to play.

That was as close as Miami would get the rest of the way as Bowling Green’s lead ballooned to 69-55 with 3:48 to go. The RedHawks did cut the lead in half with a 7-0 spurt with Adaway contributing every point on a layup, two free throws and a three-pointer with 2:23 remaining. BGSU had one more answer to put the game away as it hit a pair of free throws and after two MU misses at the stripe, sealed the contest with a dunk to go up 73-62 with under two minutes left.

The Falcons made 16-of-23 (69.6 percent) of their second half field goals to outshoot the RedHawks 60 percent to 40 percent. BGSU controlled the glass (31-26 rebound advanrtage) while MU forced 18 turnovers while committing 12. Bowling Green hit free throws down the stretch during Miam’s comeback bid to hit 21-of-24 compared to MU’s 16-of-26 figure.